History Main / NotPlayingFairWithResources

In some cases, the trope is justified by painting the enemy (on an ally of the enemy) as a more advanced civilization (especially aliens). Otherwise, you get StoryAndGameplaySegregation.

** The sequel improves the AI a tiny bit, but also introduces ''factories'': an enemy property that can produce any unit in the game once per turn at no cost. Of course they only appear on a few maps, and they aren't abused to nearly their full potential (they're often used to make cheaper units like tanks or anti-air, rather than constantly spamming out the most expensive units possible)

** This can also be built into a map using boon-granting events that explicitly only affect computer players, which will apply on all difficulty levels. And of course, if you play such a map on a higher difficulty level, [[UpToEleven the computer will get]] ''[[UpToEleven both]]'' [[UpToEleven bonuses]]. The developers [[LampshadeHanging lampshade it]] in the built-in maps with flavor text like "[=FedEx=] for computer!" that [[EasterEgg can only be seen if you poke around the maps using the editor]].

* CPU-controlled enemy ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' never run out of PP for their moves in the original Red and Blue games. This was changed in later games, although all but the most powerful moves have enough PP that you only run out after being worn down across numerous battles anyways, something the NPCs don't have to worry about.

* ''VideoGame/WarGroove'' takes a Administrivia/TropesAreTools approach. The AI is okay, but not nearly as good as a skilled player will be for obvious reasons. The Campaign goes for a "challenge over fairness" paradigm, such as giving the AI free units when the mission suits it, but the player is given total control over how fair (and thus, how hard) they want toe game to be, scaling bonuses to themselves and enemies up or down. This is also pretty much all the difficulty setting in Arcade mode changes, with Easy giving the AI only 50% income, Normal being fair, and Hard giving them double income.

** The sequel improves the AI a tiny bit, but also introduces ''factories'': an enemy property that can produce any unit in the game once per turn at no cost. Thankfully they only appear in a few maps.

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', [[PlayerCharacter Commander Shepard]] is apparently the only person in the entire galaxy who doesn't have access to infinite amounts of [[strike:ammunition]] thermal clips. All of the myriad enemies you fight have infinite clip stores. (Luckily, so do your companions.)
* CPU-controlled enemy ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' never run out of PP for their moves in the original Red and Blue games. This was changed in later games.

This is a common form of [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard cheating]] in strategy games (FourX in particular). Since the player is generally much smarter than the computer, the designers compensate by giving the [[VideoGameAI AI player(s)]] an unfair ability [[YouRequireMoreVespeneGas to gain or gather resources]] in order for the enemy to actually pose a challenge to the player.

Depending on the game, simply starting with more resources might not be cheating. The amount of resources each side starts with is determined by the designers at the start of the map, and some games [[AintNoRule never had a rule]] stating that all sides must begin on equal footing.

Some games make this an explicit component of the higher DifficultyLevels - in which case it is entirely justified, as you've brought it on yourself. In this case, the game is usually programmed to warn you that the AI will be breaking the rules in order to make it more difficult.

** In campaign maps, the computer really has no choice but to be scripted with bonus resources or units; the campaign maps are heavily triggered for storyline purposes, and it wouldn't make sense for an "unstoppable Zerg outpost" to be demolished by a steamroller player when it is specifically triggered to be destroyed by a surprise appearance by an ally or the like.

** In some campaign missions, the AI only gathers 1 unit of gold or lumber per worker each trip. This makes sure that when you burn the location, you can hijack their leftover gold, while also attempting to make it look at least somewhat realistic (see above).

** The first one compensates for its [[ArtificialStupidity laughable AI]] by almost always outnumbering you nearly 2 to 1 with enemy units and properties.
** The sequel's a bit better, but it introduces ''factories'': an enemy property that can produce any unit in the game once per turn at no cost. Thankfully they only appear in a few maps.

** Most of the ''Civilization'' series' difficulty can be attributed to this - the AI gets bonuses to their economy and production, among other things. As a result, it isn't unusual on very large maps to see stacks of twenty or more units running amok. However, this only happens on the highest DifficultyLevel; on the lowest difficulty, the AI actually gets a malus to production.

** In ''V'', the AI even starts with considerably more than you on higher difficulties. The player always starts with a Settler and a Warrior, but the AI on Deity starts with three Warriors, a Scout, two Workers, and two Settlers.

* ''VideoGame/WarGroove'' takes a Administrivia/TropesAreTools approach. The Campaign goes for a "challenge over fairness" paradigm, such as giving the AI free units when the mission suits it, but the part of the difficulty setting is adjusting how fair the player wants to be, scaling their own income up or down. This is also pretty much all the difficulty setting in Arcade mode changes, with Easy giving the AI only 50% income, Normal being fair, and Hard giving them double income.

* ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' has this with the computer in the higher difficulty levels, their resources
appear out of thin air. In the impossible difficulty the computer gets 1000 gold and 2 of every resource for doing nothing at all. Top this off with the fact that you start with no resources at all while the computer starts with a bunch of resources makes this difficulty level [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin nearly impossible]], however there have been rumors that [[NintendoHard it can be beaten]] (this info is based off of the impossible level in ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic 2'', it may vary in other games of the series).

This is a common form of [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard cheating]] in strategy games (FourX in particular). Since the player is generally much smarter than the computer, the designers compensate by giving the [[VideoGameAI AI player(s)]] an unfair ability [[YouRequireMoreVespeneGas to gain or gather resources]] in order that the enemy will actually pose a challenge to the player.

* Every single ''[[VideoGame/NintendoWars Advance Wars]]'' ever made:
** The first one compensates for its [[ArtificialStupidity laughable AI]] by almost always outnumbering you nearly 2 to 1 with enemy units and properties.
** The sequel's a bit better, but it introduces ''factories'': an enemy property that can produce any unit in the game once per turn at no cost. Thankfully they only appear in a few maps.
** ''Dual Strike'' has the Black Crystal: a Black Hole installation that restores 2HP to any nearby enemy unit for free along with maxing out their fuel and ammo. [[spoiler:They're actually a plot point explaining how Black Hole recovered so quickly after their last defeat.]] In the same game is [[spoiler:The Black Obelisk, which does the same thing that Black Crystals do but over a larger area.]]
** ''Days of Ruin'' cuts down on this considerably thanks to a very improved [=AI=], until you get to the [[spoiler:[[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard ridiculously overpowered]] [[GameBreaker final boss.]]]]

* ''VideoGame/AIWarFleetCommand'' has the AI draw resources from a separate pool, where it warps in reinforcements and units. It's explicitly mentioned the AI, who starts out dominating absolutely everything and already wiped humanity out, has exogalactic facilities and forces dealing with something else; it just reassigns some of them to killing you as you make it mad.

* In Creator/SidMeier's original ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'', the player's civilization must devote immense amounts of resources to building one of the Seven Wonders of the World; your AI opponents, on the other hand, do not actually 'build' these but simply have a random chance (minute, but significant in the long run) of being awarded one each turn. This goes above and beyond the usual accelerated-build advantage of strategy games because ''only one civilization ever'' can build any given Wonder - so the AI not only gets a free toy, but may ruin your own investment.
** In ''Civilization Revolutions'', the computer players get armies for free, give technology to each other (you have to research, buy or trade), they can spawn armies off of ships and out of the Fog Of War in places they could not possibly get to otherwise. This on top of the fact that they never attack each other, so it's always a 4-on-1 game.
** Most of the ''Civilization'' series' difficulty can be attributed to this - the AI gets bonuses to their economy and production, among other things. As a result, it isn't unusual on very large maps to see stacks of twenty or more units running amok. However, this only happens on the highest DifficultyLevel; on the lowest difficulty, the AI actually gets a malus to production.
*** The AI seems to screw with the random number generator quite a bit. Often its massively underpowered unit stacks will destroy your own more advanced forces, unless you've got tanks or something else far in advance of their own units. The AI also appear to be able to generate units out of thin air as soon as they decide they need reinforcements, or as soon as you declare war on them. This encourages the player to enter into wars only if he or she has a massive tech or production advantage over the AI, not just more units of the same type.
** In Civilization II at least, the AI tended to surround its cities with irrigation and roads with alarming efficiency. It's almost guaranteed the computer has better infrastructure than you!
** In ''V'', the AI even starts with considerably more than you on higher difficulties. The player always starts with a Settler and a Warrior, but the AI on Deity starts with three Warriors, a Scout, two Workers, and two Settlers.
* ''VideoGame/{{Colonization}}'' AI gets [[http://t-a-w.blogspot.com/2007/05/colonization-tips.html tools and guns for free]] in every new colony.
* In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianDawn'', a full Tiberium harvester load of the AI is worth twice as much credits as that of the human player. Also it builds its units (and rebuilds its buildings) much quicker than you can. In some missions you can't expect to win unless you completely starve them by killing all their harvesters, because their production ''far'' outstrips yours - which is especially hard as a one harvester load is worth 1400$ for them (700$ for you), which is exactly the price of a new harvester, so if just one of his harvesters manages to get back, the AI can build another one to replace the one you destroyed. In the last GDI campaign mission, there were actually a bunch of hidden, lightly- to wholly-unguarded Nod Tiberium silos which only seemed to exist for you to be able to capture all that Tiberium for yourself. Apparently the enemy doesn't mind you gathering their insane amounts of Tiberium, if only because you don't stand a chance otherwise.
** It's actually worse than just twice as much money. At least in some cases, the computer gets an unlimited amount of money any time they successfully harvest Tiberium. If one of their harvesters reaches a refinery, all refineries and silos are filled up completely. The only thing keeping the AI from never running out of money ever is the fact that the game only allowed you to have a limited amount of money "on hand" at any time, as defined by how many silos you had to store resources in.
** ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'' suffers from this too. The enemy can rebuild a building in just a few seconds, and not only start with a pile of cash but receive regular payments from nowhere. The only way to defeat computer players is to destroy their construction yard first and then go for everything else.
*** When playing as Allies you can turn the tables in certain missions however, the Ally's Spy steals half of the opposition's money if it touches their refinery, and the AI is too stupid to sell its buildings except when scripted to. So on say the assault on Moscow you can clear out the area around a soviet refinery, fortify the area against reprisals and continually steal an absurd amount of money every few minutes.
** The only difference between "Hard" and "Brutal" Difficulty in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars'' is that a Brutal computer generates double resources.

** In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'' the Empire Mission in Hawaii notably has the ally base having either 6 or 8 Seaports and multiple Airbases all producing units at the same time and non stop until you destroy their base or Ore Refineries. On the opposite side of the map you there are no extra resource nodes for you.

*** Good luck getting at their Ore Refineries, they have heavy defenses (in addition to a never ending wall of units) and not nearly enough power plants to support it if they had any at all.

* The AI in ''VideoGame/CompanyOfHeroes'' on Normal receives a massive Manpower boost. If on a map, both sides capture the exact same number of points with the exact same levels of Manpower/Munition/Fuel income, the AI will normally have 1/3 extra manpower points than the Player. This can be seen in the summary screen after completing a Skirmish map.
** It's nothing compared to what the Hard and Expert AIs do. 2x and 4x respectively.
* The AI on ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'' will start the game with extra resources if you put the difficulty high enough.
** It also has faster resource gain rates. The Dawn of War AI, however, is basically designed to spam units at usually low to medium tier, so if you can actually survive long enough to tech up, you can usually win regardless of the AI's level. Or, in team games, if you rush the AI.
** They don't seem to be bound by population caps like the player is, though. It's perfectly fine if they do it when you're assaulting their stronghold province, but on a tiny, insignificant bit of land?
** Most obviously seen in the Eldar stronghold mission of Dark Crusade, where the Eldar base constantly summons fully reinforced squads of infantry and hasn't been told that there's a cap of 2 on the best vehicles. It is justified as them warping units from an offworld ship, and you're supposed to cut them off from said ship [[BraggingRightsReward instead of destroying their base.]]

* In ''VideoGame/DungeonKeeper 2'' enemy Keepers often have inaccessible mana vaults, generally so that they can spam imps and spells and sustain a ton of traps.

* ''Videogame/FinalFantasyTactics'': Enemies have infinite stores of both single-use restorative items and throwable weaponry (which, incidentally, get better and better the more chapters you proceed into the game, topping off at [[BonusDungeon Deep Dungeon]]). The latter can be abused with the Thief reaction ability Catch to get free copies of, say, the InfinityPlusOneSword.
* In ''VideoGame/FrontMission1'' the enemy gets to deploy more wanzers than you can, can utilize more supply trucks, can equip better weapons than you have access to at any given time, and gets to casually ignore the "weight" and "engine" stats and thus equip whatever they want to whatever they want without overloading their machines. Possibly justified as you're a mercenary unit responsible for securing your own parts, members, and performing your own maintenance while they likely have proper supply chains and are being maintained by proper mechanics and technicians.
* ''VideoGame/GalacticCivilizations 2'' informs you that the more potent AI settings aren't going to play fair with resources.
** However the weaker AI settings actually cheat to the players advantage, penalizing the AI's resources. In the pre-set AI, only the "Intelligent" or "Tough" difficulty setting plays fair with resources, though you're free to tinker with how much the AI is helped or hampered in this manner.

* ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' has this with the computer in the higher difficulty levels, their resources appear out of thin air. In the impossible difficulty the computer gets 1000 gold and 2 of every resource for doing nothing at all. Top this off with the fact that you start with no resources at all while the computer starts with a bunch of resources makes this difficulty level [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin nearly impossible]], however there have been rumors that [[NintendoHard it can be beaten]] (this info is based off of the impossible level in ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic 2'', it may vary in other games of the series).
** This can also be built into a map using boon-granting events that explicitly only affect computer players, which will apply on all difficulty levels. And of course, if you play such a map on a higher difficulty level, [[UpToEleven the computer will get]] ''[[UpToEleven both]]'' [[UpToEleven bonuses]]. The developers [[LampshadeHanging lampshade it]] in the built-in maps with flavor text like "[=FedEx=] for computer!" that [[EasterEgg can only be seen if you poke around the maps using the editor]].
* The AI in ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}} 2'' does this when it doesn't just use OffscreenVillainDarkMatter to spawn whatever it wants. Even if you manage to block every resource available to the computer, it can build no matter what. It tries to play fair, in that it will not exploit this to build ships unless it's at least making a token effort to gather resources, but it becomes obvious it's cheating when it sends endless waves of resource collectors in a hopeless attempt to mine the pockets. In short, the AI only gathers resources to [[SpitefulAI spite you.]] This is, of course, pointless, though, because by about six of seven missions in you'll have enough resources to rebuild your entire fleet twice over, and that number only goes up from there.
* VideoGame/MachinesWiredForWar:The computer can build units without resources. (Resource consumption is real-time rather than paid at once at the beginning. For the computer, production goes on even at 0 BMU's while it stops for a human player. This doesn't affect building construction, however.) It can place building blueprints without paying the 5 BMU placement cost. It can launch a nuke for free while it normally costs 500 BMU's.
* In ''VideoGame/MasterOfOrion'', the AI has a random chance of getting a free colony ship every turn.
* The Ancient Greece themed RTS ''VideoGame/RiseAndFallCivilizationsAtWar'' features an AI that will appear to collect resources but will really have an infinite supply. At the higher difficulty levels, once an AI's main base is destroyed it is not uncommon for its remaining production facility to pump out an endless supply of its most powerful units despite not having any legitimate incoming resources.

** (That last is particularly ironic, considering just how strongly ''VideoGame/RiseOfNations'', the game ''VideoGame/RiseOfLegends'' was [[SpinOff spun off]] of, pushed the "a complete part of this balanced strike force" angle.)
* An actual evidence of cheating has been found in ''VideoGame/{{StarCraft}}''. There, modders eventually deciphered the files that control AI actions. While most opcodes in them just match normal player actions, they also found codes that will give the AI player instant ore and gas or let it create units out of nowhere. In addition, if you extract the campaign maps and open them in the map editor, you'll see how surprisingly often the AI is helped by scripted game events ("Triggers"). This goes so far that the AI plays with unlimited resources for almost the whole campaign. Those advantages are usually not abused, so the game doesn't become frustrating even despite the cheating.

*** It's made extremely obvious after winning a campaign level when all the end stats are shown that the computer receives a huge amount of starter cash. An example would be that you'll occasionally see the end-level resource stats for the computer in the 50 thousands even though the computer most of the time only has about 4 actual workers gathering resources which basically spells out to you that the computer started off with 50,000 minerals and gas each.

** In Starcraft 2's skirmishes, it's confirm-able that the hardest AI mode gets minerals and gas faster. Watch a replay against one while watching its resources. Each worker gets 7 minerals instead of 5 and 6 gas instead of 4. They have since been renamed to Cheaters.

* ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars'' gives its Hard AI 50% extra earnings and research speed. The player gets these advantages on Easy, though. [[AIIsACrapshoot AI Rebels]] get sizeable advantages over normal players, whether human or computer-controlled, as part of the "Death" side of the DeathOrGloryAttack that is AI research.

* ''VideoGame/{{Aerobiz}}'': The game does this and [[MyRulesAreNotYourRules makes its own rules]] in one stroke. If your airline runs in the red for a year, it goes bankrupt and [[NonStandardGameOver you lose]]. If an AI airline runs in the red for a year, it goes bankrupt, changes its name and gets a huge influx of cash to start over and bounce back. This is fixed in ''Supersonic'', where AI airlines that go bankrupt do not get a name change and cash injection and instead are eliminated just like player-run airlines would be.

* ''VideoGame/EveOnline'':
** NPC ships have a fixed 100% capacitor level. [=NPCs=] labelled as mercenaries typically fly somewhat cap-poor Caldari ships shooting very cap-hungry lasers, which they can do ''all day'' if you let them. It also means that energy neutralizers, often quite lethal in [[PlayerVersusPlayer PvP]] combat since they (indirectly) disable the target's armour repairers as well as its weapons, are completely ineffective against them. On the flip side, energy vampires (which steal cap from the target but only if the victim's cap level is higher than yours) always help you (but likewise don't hurt the [=NPCs=]).
** Likewise, NPC ships are ''extremely'' resistant to target jamming. While they can be jammed, it takes far more effort than it would for the equivalent ship piloted by a player. This was likely implemented to prevent players from having a target-jamming friend come into their mission and basically render it more-or-less trivial.
* In several ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' titles (''Videogame/FinalFantasyV'' immediately comes to mind, but this trope exists in other titles of the franchise), boss encounters either have an absurdly huge (as in, the maximum number that can be stored in memory) MP pool, or simply have boss-exclusive abilities that can be spammed for free, making it all but impossible to shut them down using MP-drain abilities. The first game in the series where it was even possible to stop a foe from using spells by depleting their MP was ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' (and even then, several monsters have 0 MP special abilities).
** In the first three games in the series, enemies simply didn't have magic points - they could spam any spell they knew at will.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyBraveExvius'' approaches this in a different direction - while enemies all have mana pools sensibly related to the type of foe they are (animalistic monsters having nearly none, more trained and intelligent foes having more, spellcasters having the most), it's moot because the enemies don't consume magic points at all to use their spells and abilities - this is most obvious in the various fights against the Sworn Six in the first season, as they'll continue to use -aga level attack spells (which would cost the player 20 MP per cast) even if their magic points have been zeroed out. The main reason they have limits on their magic points is so that the player cannot have infinite magic points by repeatedly using [[ManaDrain Osmose or related abilities]].
* Special mention to some bosses and mobs in ''Videogane/GuildWars'' missions, while the enemy [=NPCs=] do usually have a fair energy limit, some casters in missions actually use spells as their auto atttacks resulting in something like this (PC Mesmer casts 3 energy draining spells, enemy -40 energy + NPC caster boss- Immolate, Immolate, Immolate, Immolate, Immolate, Immolate, Immolate, Immolate, Immolate, Immolate, Immolate, Immolate, Immolate, Immolate, Immolate = 6 people dead).
* In ''VideoGame/{{League Of Legends}}'', there are only two differences between Beginner bots and Intermediate bots; Intermediate bots will actually use their summoner spells (at the exact perfect time, [[ComputersAreFast of course]]) and they'll automatically gain XP and items more quickly. Trying to keep them from kills to deny gold/XP? Good luck with that.
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', [[PlayerCharacter Commander Shepard]] is apparently the only person in the entire galaxy who doesn't have access to infinite amounts of [[strike:ammunition]] thermal clips. All of the myriad enemies you fight have infinite clip stores. (Luckily, so do your companions.)
* Despite being ostensibly an RPG/Puzzle Hybrid, VideoGame/PuzzleQuest still has resource gathering, to a degree. Rest assured if the opponent goes first, they will have at least one combo available that provides them with an additional turn... and the RandomNumberGod will be kind enough to give them a few more comboes to fill up their reserves before you get a chance. This rarely happens for the human player.
** Well, that depends on your version. Technically, the DS version doesn't have a random number generator, so it would be more of a Predetermined Board God.

* CPU-controlled enemy Franchise/{{Pokemon}} never run out of PP for their moves in the original Red and Blue games. This was changed in later games.

* In [[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} Touhou Soccer Moushuuden]], your players need to expend guts to do all those killer moves. The help file specifically states "By the way, the AI has absolutely no idea what this Guts restriction means." This also turns the single character in the game who can actively reduce opponents' Guts useless when on your side.
** This gets [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] when Kaguya only uses "[[MemeticMutation Help me, Eirin!]]-mild-" for an entire match to save her guts, only to be told afterwards that it was a waste of time because of this trope.

* In ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal 2'', in addition to the standard weapons that are governed by ammo pickups, there are special moves that drain a meter that slowly regenerates. Run out of meter, and you can't use your special moves until it fills up a bit. [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard The computer]] is under no such limitation, nor is the AI smart enough to hide its cheating, leading to frustrating situations like being [[CycleOfHurting stun-locked]] to death with an infinite loop of [[KillItWithIce ice blasts]].
* Before its first patch, the computer opponents in ''VideoGame/StarTrekArmada II'' would often suddenly turn up with a huge [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin armada]] of the highest tier ship in the game. Imagine, if you will, a horde of Negh'vars coming towards your Starbase, piled up like a packed convention line.

%% WikiMagic, please help expand this example so that it's not as generic!

In some cases, the trope is justified by painting the enemy (on an ally of the enemy) as a more advanced civilization (especially aliens). Otherwise, you get StoryAndGameplaySegregation. Also entirely justified at higher difficulty settings when the programmers have the simple courtesy of warning you that such settings ''will'' bend or break the rules in favor of the computer opposition.

[[AC: Examples in other video games:]]

* In ''VideoGame/FrontMission'' the enemy gets to deploy more wanzers than you can, can utilize more supply trucks, can equip better weapons than you have access to at any given time, and gets to casually ignore the "weight" and "engine" stats and thus equip whatever they want to whatever they want without overloading their machines. Possibly justified as you're a mercenary unit responsible for securing your own parts, members, and performing your own maintenance while they likely have proper supply chains and are being maintained by proper mechanics and technicians.

* The AI in VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}, as of version 2.0, has been confirmed to have its maintenance and civilian good costs halved on difficulties at least as low as normal, as well as receiving some additional bonus to energy income.

** In Civilization2 at least, the AI tended to surround its cities with irrigation and roads with alarming efficiency. It's almost guaranteed the computer has better infrastructure then you!

* ''VideoGame/AIWarFleetCommand'' has the AI draw resources from a separate pool, where it warps in reinforcements and units.

* ''VideoGame/WarGroove'' takes a TropesAreTools approach. The Campaign goes for a "challenge over fairness" paradigm, such as giving the AI free units when the mission suits it, but the part of the difficulty setting is adjusting how fair the player wants to be, scaling their own income up or down. This is also pretty much all the difficulty setting in Arcade mode changes, with Easy giving the AI only 50% income, Normal being fair, and Hard giving them double income.